World Traveller in Amestris
by Mez10000
Summary: When two girls arrive in Central, one with a silver pocketwatch, all insanity breaks loose...chapter 6 - is that an Ed/Roy fangirl?
1. The Insanity Arrives

The authoress does not own Fullmetal Alchemist…or Final Fantasy…or Torchwood.

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Two teenage girls were merrily chatting their way down the streets of Central. One seemed to appear fairly normal, with long, curly brown hair and blue eyes. The other stood out 'slightly', with shorter, shining silver hair and piercing green eyes, but the residents put this unusual colouration down to alchemy, or some new trend that would soon sweep the streets.

While appearing normal, they were in fact, from another world, vastly different to this one. They had the ability to travel between alternate realities and dimensions. And right now, they had travelled to Central in search of some fun.

"So, you used to live here, Jade?" the brunette asked her friend.

"Yeah, I studied alchemy here with the state military. _I'm_ a state alchemist," she said proudly, pulling out a shiny metal pocket watch.

"Can't be too difficult if you managed to do it," her friend teased.

"Shut up, Nia! I'd like to see you try!"

Nia laughed, before a deep contemplative thoughtful expression crossed her face. "Alright then. How can I start?"

"We can go to the library – that's not far…"

Quarter of an hour later, the two girls were stood in the middle of a busy road, shouting their heads off.

"What do you mean, 'we're lost'?" Nia shouted incredulously.

"I was following you!"

"That's a stupid thing to do, I've never even _been _here before! Besides, _I _was following _you_!"

They paid no attention to the crowds that parted easily around them, eager to be out of the way of the arguing girls.

Nia sighed. "We'll just ask for directions."

"Okay," Jade agreed…and didn't move an inch.

"Of course, 'we' has to mean 'me'…" Nia muttered, looking for someone to ask.

Nia's eyes settled on a blonde, longhaired boy, who wore his hair slicked back into a plaited ponytail, except for a few bangs that framed his face – including his amber eyes.

"Excuse me," she said loudly, walking over to him. He seemed not to hear, so Nia quickly said the first thing that entered her mind. "Oi, shortie!"

This proved to be a big mistake…

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I normally post more than this, but this is just a kind of intro…anyway, review please – any thoughts, good, or bad, will be listened to!!


	2. Shorties and Secrets

The authoress does not own Fullmetal Alchemist…or Final Fantasy…or Torchwood...or Doctor Who...

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"_Oi, shortie!"_

This proved to be a big mistake…

The blonde spun round, a livid anger boiling behind those amber eyes.

"Well, Nia, you got his attention…" Jade muttered.

"Who are you calling short?" he shouted with a barely held fury.

"Look, I just wanted to ask directions…" Nia said quickly, trying to avert any possible disaster.

It almost worked, but Jade had to – albeit unintentionally – put her proverbial foot in it. "Is that even such a good idea?"

"**Who are you calling so short that he can't see to know his way around**?!"

"Uh…I don't think she meant that…" Nia said uncertainly, backing away from the fuming boy.

"Run?" Jade asked in a low tone – Nia barely heard it over the adolescent's ranting.

She nodded slightly.

"Three…two…ONE!"

And they both turned tail and fled. What they didn't bargain for, was the boy following just as quickly, if not faster.

"Argh, short psychotic blonde on the loose!" Jade shouted.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" was the loud enraged shout from behind.

"Oh, now you've done it!" Nia complained.

"I wasn't the one to call him shortie!"

"Just keep running, he'll tire out soon," Nia reasoned.

"Are you saying that I can't run as fast as you because I have _short _legs?!"

"It doesn't matter what you say to this guy, he'll still take it as a 'short' insult!" Jade shouted desperately.

Nia, having a sudden idea and wishing to test it, stopped dead in her tracks, turned to face the boy and said: "Roxicoricofalapatorious!"

"Are you now calling me so short I can't handle long words?!"

Nia sighed, but didn't start running again. "Look, I'm sorry if I insulted you earlier! I just wanted to get your attention! We only wanted directions!"

The boy gave her a glare.

"Look, I didn't mean it in a nasty way – I doubt if I'm even any taller than you!" Nia admitted, realising she was at the blonde's eye level.

"Nia, you _are_ taller than him…wow, that's a sentence I never thought I'd say… Nia being taller than somebody?.."

"See, I get enough short jokes of my own…" Nia muttered, promising to repay her friend for that remark.

The boy sighed. "Where do you want to get to?"

"The library."

"Why? Only state alchemists are allowed in there – or didn't you know?"

Jade flashed her pocket watch. "Who says I'm not an alchemist?"

"You're with the military too? I never even knew a girl had passed the exam… How come I've never seen you before?"

"What? They let a runt like you in? Jeez, they're just giving the watches away…"

Nia almost hit her forehead with the palm of her hand, but instead found something heavy and threw it in the general direction of Jade's head. As usual, she completely missed.

"Lousy aiming skills," Nia muttered under her breath. Then, louder, "How about we start with basics before insulting each other? Like names? Mine's Nia Jones by the way, and the insanely tall, silver-haired one is called Jade Silverwind."

"Edward Elric."

"Right, pleased to meet you," Nia greeted. She shook her head, muttering. "Two alchemists in a room, and it's always about the size of the pocket watch…oh, wait, wrong world completely…"

Jade glared at her. "That was not funny. Making smutty Torchwood references…"

Nia grinned – she knew she'd find a way of getting revenge…

"So, Edward, could you take us to the library?"

"Sure," he said.

Ed must have been wondering how he got himself into these situations – both of the girls seemed absolutely crazy…

It only took a couple of minutes to get to the library, which, once arrived, Jade flashed her pocket watch, muttering, "Don't worry – she's with me."

Nia rolled her eyes. Jade had annoyed her no end by saying that she'd always wanted to say that…

The guard was completely stunned – for reasons unknown to the two girls – so, they simply strolled in.

Jade grabbed a heavy tome, handing it to Nia. Any normal person would have staggered slightly under the weight, but the two girls had already proved that they were anything but normal.

"Read that – it has most of the basics, and anything you don't understand, you can just ask about."

Nia was already flicking though the aged pages, taking in the complex diagrams and arrays.

"Actually, this seems quite easy," she muttered, more to herself than anyone else. "The basic principles of most things stay the same in many worlds – this being one of them. It's kind of like nanochemistry, maths and art rolled into one science…"

"Why is she studying alchemy?" Ed wondered.

His voice made both of them jump – they'd quite forgotten he was there.

"Sorry, squirt – didn't see you there," Jade muttered offhand.

Before the blonde could even begin to react to the comment, Nia had 'lightly' hit Jade on the back of her head. Nia only realised when Jade gritted her teeth in pain that she'd slightly overdone it.

"Sorry," she whispered sheepishly.

"What the hell is your arm made of? Metal?" Jade asked incredulously, rubbing the back of her head.

Both of them didn't notice the flinch from Edward as he checked his gloves and sleeves weren't showing any skin…or lack of.

"Nope – just flesh and bone. You know, in a way, it's your fault I hit you as hard as you did."

"And how do you explain that?! You were the one to whack me!"

"Well, you gave me the crystal…and I _was_ holding back…"

Jade sighed. "I know…otherwise I'd be short a head, most likely… Why does it make _you _so strong though?.."

Ed was watching this exchange with curiosity and realised that he wanted to understand it. After a few minutes 'interrogation' (loud shouting), he learnt that the two girls were from another world. He also found out that the silver haired one was much older than she was letting on (although no exact numbers were mentioned, Ed felt her age was in the thousands) and that she'd only lived this long through a crystalline object that you could attach to your skin.

These crystals gave you enhanced senses, strength and the closest thing to immortality you could get – they would never die from old age. But, perhaps more amazing than all than, is that is gave you wings – it made you an angel.

"All right," Ed said resignedly. "No need to take the piss – you obviously don't want to tell me. That's okay – you should have just said, instead of making up stupid stories."

Both girls looked stunned.

"Stupid…stories?.." Nia questioned.

"We _were _telling the truth…" Jade insisted.

Nia, however, had a better idea, and dragged Ed out of the library by his left arm, trusting Jade to follow.

"If you want proof…show us somewhere we won't be seen, and we'll show you our wings," Nia whispered.

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Another fairly short chapter...they will get longer, I can promise you! Could you review and make me happy, please?


	3. Studying

I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist! At best, I own Nia and parts of Jade!

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"_Show us somewhere we won't be seen, and we'll show you our wings," Nia whispered._

"If you don't want anyone else to see, then why are you showing me?" Ed faced the girls with a hint of mistrust.

Unbeknownst to them, Edward was poised and ready to clap his hands together at the slightest sign of danger – if these people really were from another world, they would have had to come through the Gate, he reasoned. And from experience, Edward Elric knew that good things rarely came though the gate…

"Actually…I don't know!" Nia almost laughed. "I just felt that you were trustworthy…then again, I've probably said the same about Jade at one point…"

"I keep saying – I am _not _evil! Everyone just makes me look worse than I really am! Take joining the military in this world, for example. Lots of good people enlist – or are we going to try and make out that the midget blonde is evil, too?"

Edward growled menacingly. Jade ran. Nia slapped her forehead, wondered what the hell she was doing here and then stopped the 'midget blonde' from murdering her friend…against her better judgement…

"Look, I thought the whole point of coming to the library was so I could study for the alchemy exam," Nia pointed out.

This halted Jade in mid-run.

"I wonder when the next one is…"

"Three days time," Edward informed them.

"No problem," Nia smiled.

"Nia, you've _never _done alchemy before – you hadn't even heard of it this morning – and three days is not long enough to revise for the written exam, let alone any other part!" Jade shouted.

"I can try. Besides, I can't sleep – I can spend that time revising – and I have a natural knack for things like this...I think… Anyway, the principle seems really easy…"

Edward just stared at her – surely, she couldn't be serious?

"Well, if want to give this a try…take this," she said, throwing a small green orb at the brunette.

As Nia peered at it, trying to identify it, Edward couldn't help but shiver. The thing was so obviously strange, yet he couldn't say what had made him think that…it had to have been from another world.

"Haste materia? Thanks, now I'll get through twice as much!"

The next two days saw Nia spending all her time in the library. She was reading through thick volumes at a near impossible rate – Nia had a high reading speed even without the haste magic. In the middle of the night, she was reading, using a candle in a jam jar. In the morning, still reading. In the afternoon – reading. She kept this up for two days straight, barely taking a break to blink, let alone anything else. On the third day, Jade and Edward dragged her outside to practise practical alchemy.

Edward wasn't quite sure why he was still here – he'd gone away after the first day, back to the hotel that he and Al were staying at, had made a report to 'the bastard Colonel' (mentioning this insane girl who wished to try the test in a couple of days), but then had stopped at the library the next day to see how the insane girl was getting on. After that, it was a regular thing for him and Al to stop at the library whenever they passed.

Anyway, while Nia could remember everything she'd read easily, putting it into practise seemed to be far harder. She couldn't even draw a circular array – they always turned out uneven.

"Grr…why does a science have so much _art _in it?!" she growled, after her fifth useless array.

"Maybe it'd be worth getting you an array you can wear, which would save you drawing it all the time…" Jade suggested. "I could probably engrave it into the crystal's mount, but I don't want to risk it becoming unstable…"

Nia was suddenly struck with an idea. "Someone get me some metal – preferably steel…something that won't rust, and has a high melting point, anyway."

In the end, a length of copper wire was produced – the best they could do on short notice. Nia bent and curved the wire into the shape of an array, then heated all the joins so that they stayed together.

"What are you doing?" Jade wondered.

Ignoring the question, Nia advised, "If anyone's squeamish, look away now," as she pushed the now hot metal into her skin on the back of her hand, until it sat in a dark groove a few millimetres deep.

Edward stared – she hadn't flinched, or gritted her teeth – she seemed to be in absolutely no pain, despite literally branding herself.

"How did you manage that?" Jade wondered. "I mean, you heated up the metal, and pressed it into your skin, but I thought the intense heat wouldn't have affected you…so your skin wouldn't have burnt like that…"

"I still have some human attributes. Besides, this wasn't at such a heat to just burn the skin – it was so hot that it changed the structure of the skin slightly."

"Someone is going to get hell when they go back," Jade pointed out in a sing-song voice. "You can't exactly hide your hand from everybody…"

"It's less painful than a tattoo," Nia insisted. "Besides, I can heal it up when I'm not in this world."

"Who says you can't hide your hands all the time?" Edward asked, showing his gloved hands.

"There's someone back in another world who would hate me to cover up my hands. Eventually, he'd want to see why," Nia explained with a reminiscent smile. "Besides, some people can tell you have mechanical limbs, even with your gloves on…"

"Dammit, how do you know that?"

"There's a slight gap in the joins, isn't there? That gives off heat that your arm and leg produces, and I can sense that heat. It took me ages to work it out, though – it didn't click until I heard you walk. I'm an expert on footsteps – when I lived with my family, I had to be able to tell who was coming past my door… But anyway, there's a slight uneven delay between footsteps – not too noticeable unless you listen out for it – and I can hear the metal."

"When you lived with your family?" Al echoed.

A sad and regretful, yet hardened and almost angered look formed in Nia's eyes.

"I can't really call them my family – my mother was the only one I loved and the only one related to me by blood. As far as I'm concerned, my stepfather and stepbrother were nothing more than lodgers. I couldn't care less what happened to them…"

A slow silence passed – the Elric brothers knowing there was something more to this than met the eye, yet not intruding, and Jade silently accepting her friend's past.

"Right, let's try some alchemy, then," Nia said suddenly, a complete change from her earlier, vehement tone.

What had happened in her past to treat such an obviously negative memory so lightly? Maybe they'd never know – there seemed to be a lot about the girl that no one knew, save this weird silver-haired girl.

To all those present, nothing appeared to happen, but when Nia exclaimed, "That feels so _weird_!" the Elric brothers and Jade's curiosity briefly took over from confusion.

"What does?" Jade asked.

"I'm changing the oxygen levels in the air and…well, I'm used to changing the densities of elements in the air, but using alchemy makes it so…easy, somehow. I'm used to cajoling and persuading the air – alchemy is the equivalent of giving it a direct order and it must obey…"

"You were changing the air?" Al asked. "That's really advanced alchemy…"

Jade shook her head. "Not for Nia. She'll find alchemy involving heat easy, too, but she'll struggle with moving earth and water…perhaps water especially…" Jade explained.

Nia slapped her branded hand to the earth, with the intention of proving her friend wrong. A tendril of rock rose up out of the ground, beginning to form a serpentine dragon shape, before crumbling and returning to dust. Nia took some huge gulps of air, her hand shaking slightly.

"Okay, that _is _more difficult…" she admitted.

"You've only been studying alchemy for two days?" Edward asked incredulously. "When me and Al started, we could only make a shapeless dust creature that scared Winry half to death!"

Nia smiled at the praise, but knew that a crumbly rock formation wouldn't impress the examiners. She needed to come up with something more impressive…

Ordering the elements in the air into a specific framework of oxygen, Nia allowed a tiny spark of flame to reach it, spreading out and filling the shape, making a brilliant white, flaming dragon. Keeping it under control in her mind – it flew around in circles – she introduced basic elements like calcium and potassium from the earth into the dragon, making it glow red and lilac respectively.

"Wow…"

"Do you think that'd be enough for the practical exam?" Nia wondered.

"What?! You could do more?" Edward shouted, almost deafening the two girls.

"Well, I could change the shape – quite easily, actually, you just need to shape the oxygen – and if I had some different elements I could use some different colours…"

"What I don't understand, though, is how it set on fire in the first place…" Al said.

Nia smiled. "I'm practically made of fire – I can spare a spark or two! See!" Nia's right hand suddenly seemed to be on fire, and it didn't seem to hurt her in the least.

"She's made of fire and can control the air – without alchemy," Jade explained tiredly. "That's why she could press the hot metal wire into her skin – it didn't hurt her. She's what some people would call an elemental, and they're extremely rare. I've only ever met four in my long life…"

"Well, I'm one of them, Stephen must be another one of them…but who are the other two?" Nia asked, a slight strain in her voice at the word 'Stephen'.

"Your fairly distant ancestor – Nera neé Joiner – and Setanta ap Attkain."

"Well…I'll want all the family details, later, but first I have this exam to worry about… I've had too many distractions lately…" Nia said slowly, laying her hand on the ground.

After a couple of hours, Nia had almost got the hang of moving the earth to create solid objects, like walls and structures, however, they were still rather fragile. Luckily, both Edward and Alphonse could offer advice on strengthening alchemically made walls, with their hard earned knowledge.

Somehow, despite the impending pressure of the exam, the atmosphere was light and playful that day, and they managed to have a lot of fun. Looking at the four of them, it would have been hard to believe that they'd only met two days ago.

That night, Nia looked up at the cloudless sky to see the beautiful stars – with no constellations she could recognise. This was the first time in her life that she'd ever felt a pang of homesickness, and she wished that she could go back home for some emotional support. Her brain was buzzing, and although she had no physical need for sleep, she wished that she could, just to rest her mind.

She surrounded herself with a ring of fire, enjoying the heat of the flames, as well as the nostalgic feeling of a bonfire in the middle of the night. She knew Jade was behind her – she could hear her footsteps. There were five people whom she could know instantly by the sound of their footsteps, and Jade was one of them. Everyone else took a brief moment's thought.

"Maybe you shouldn't worry the locals too much – they rarely see such controlled displays of flame."

"Huh? Where are they seeing _any_ control over fire?" Nia asked – not used to the idea of controlled fire in anyone's hands but her own.

"Apparently there's an alchemist in the military – Colonel Roy Mustang – that they call the Flame Alchemist."

"Interesting…I'll need to try and get the chance to meet him."

"I was talking to Edward about it – while you were reading – and apparently he knows Roy quite well. It's thanks to him that you were put in for this year's exam, by the way."

"So…the Flame Alchemist…wait, you're a state alchemist, too – what's your name?" Nia asked curiously.

"The Dark Matter Alchemist. The problem is, in this world, people aren't aware of mana, or any similar forces, so when I was transmuting objects out of – seemingly – nothing, they obviously wanted to know how I did it, and my explanation of mana must have sounded like an opposite to matter, not the building blocks of it…"

"I wonder what my name will be…"

"That's _if_ you pass!"

"Thanks for the confidence…" Nia muttered, sighing. "But seriously, what do you think my name would be?"

"Who knows? The Short Fiery Alchemist?"

"Hey! I'm not _that _short!"

Jade smirked at that.

"What?"

"The midget must be rubbing off on you – you never used to react to short jokes…"

"…I have an exam tomorrow – can't you be a bit more helpful?" Nia complained, blatantly ignoring the fact that 'the midget' was indeed rubbing off on her.

"You've done as much as you can preparing for the written section, unless you feel like reading another book…"

Nia shuddered – she liked books, but she also liked fresh air and a break for sore eyes.

"And in the interview, all you can really do is tell the truth, so that shouldn't be a problem. Then you have the practical section…"

"I just need to keep practising. I'll probably never be able to transmute water, unless it's to split it into hydrogen and oxygen, but I can do a pretty display with fire and air…which I _could _have done without alchemy, anyway!" Nia realised. "The only thing I can do with alchemy which I couldn't do normally is anything involving earth and metals…"

Jade stooped down, swiftly drawing a perfectly circular array in the dirt.

"I hate you," Nia muttered enviously, although she meant it half-heartedly.

She touched the array, making a blade slide out of the floor.

"You couldn't do this normally, could you?" she asked, handing Nia the short, thin bladed sword.

"But it's just a shortcut to forging a sword properly, and if the right elements aren't in the soil, then it's pointless…"

"But in the middle of a fight, it's quicker to transmute a weapon than find a blacksmith, right? Besides, you can make the blade to your exact tastes – try it."

"You know I'm better without a weapon," Nia grumbled, but used her branded array to form a jet-black knife.

She ran a finger over the metallic surface – sharp to the touch and very reflective.

"I can see what you mean – it _can_ be useful. I wonder why alchemy never formed properly in any other world. I mean, it isn't like mana – in every world, but only tapped in to by a few worlds. It simply does not exist outside this world. "

"I've looked into it, but can't really find an answer. Anyway, how well do you think you'll do on the exam?"

"I'll do my best, _obviously_," Nia retorted with a smirk.

"Hey…if you want to give the examiners a shock, cast haste at the beginning of the exam. You'd be the first person to finish the exam with time to check over the answers!"

"That's cheating," Nia protested. "It's not fair on everyone else…"

"Look, you and I both know that life isn't fair. Besides, if they _have_ haste materia, they can feel free to use them."

"What about equivalent exchange? That's fair, and as an alchemist, don't you believe in it?"

Jade rolled her eyes. "As far as I know, that only applies to solid objects, and any evidence that suggests otherwise is pure coincidence."

Despite what her friend said, Nia was adamant not to use the haste materia tomorrow – she'd leave it with Edward or Alphonse early in the morning so that she wasn't tempted.

"Any other tips about the exam?"

"You've heard it all before – don't panic, it's not the end of the world if you don't pass, you know, stuff like that."

She left out the obvious – don't try to study everything all at the last minute, get a good night's sleep and get something substantial to eat – all three were null and void here.

"Oh, and make sure you are ready to give the exam your best shot," Jade advised, throwing a vial of liquid at her friend.

"What's this?"

"Petrol – I figured you could do with refuelling before the exam…if you collapsed halfway through, you'd never forgive yourself."

Nia gulped down the petrol gratefully, feeling the flame deep inside her flare up.

(Disclaimer: DON'T DRINK PETROL, GUYS – IT HAS A SLIGHT RISK OF DEATH! I am not responsible for any lawsuits involving deaths or illnesses of a person or persons who do not heed the prior warning!)

Jade left her friend to the darkness, to contemplate the coming day with the rise of the weak, winter's sun.

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Well, reviews, please? Because the sooner you review, the sooner I put up the next chapter (it's already written) Also, reviewers get hugs!!

And my word of wisdom is: randomness!


	4. Exams

The authoress does not own Fullmetal Alchemist…or Final Fantasy…or Torchwood.

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E-day – exam day – came with a fierce dread for Nia, which was not helped by the already certified State Alchemists, who insisted that it really was nothing to worry about. Even Alphonse was insisting that the written exam seemed the easiest of the three tests; despite it being the only one he'd sat.

She entered the exam hall fairly nervous, despite never being nervous before a written exam in her life. The problem was, she had no idea about the type of questions that would be asked, and so had no way of preparing for them.

When she got out of the exam, she was holding her wrist – her right hand completely floppy in it's grasp.

"I think I did alright…but I don't want to even see a pen, let alone write anything, ever again!" Nia complained to her waiting friends. "So, how will I know if I've passed?"

"We're keeping in contact with the Colonel – he'll let us know what's happened," Al explained.

As they found out later, Nia _had_ passed, but she was disappointed with her mark.

"Sixty per cent? That's a 'C'! I've never had a 'C' in my life!" she exclaimed, sinking to her knees.

"You've never sat an exam with only three days to prepare before, though, either," Jade pointed out.

"But still…"

"You passed, didn't you? Isn't that good enough?" Al said quietly.

"I suppose…"

"She's always like this," Jade explained. "When she was in school…"

"Don't," Nia growled.

"She practically had a go at the teacher…"

"Don't. Go. There."

"Who gave her…"

"I'm warning you…"

"A 'B' for effort in a subject where she got an 'A' for attainment…"

"Jade!" Nia shouted, sleek flames coating her fists.

"Well, it's true. You're a perfectionist…"

Nia sighed, letting the flames die down. Her whole body relaxed – it had been tautened, almost as if in preparation for a physical fight.

"I know. But that teacher was a complete jerk – I bet she didn't even know my name! She just looked at my averages and guessed at what would be the safest grade to give me."

Nia walked away, not quite the reaction Jade was hoping for.

Nia became quiet and brooding over the next day – the day of the interview, and once she'd done it, she refused to say what questions had been asked, or anything about the interview – only that she'd passed it. But she was dreading the coming day – the practical exam. She spent all night creating a whole host of fire creatures to practise without speaking to anyone.

She thought she was nowhere near well enough prepared, but from discreetly spying on her work with fire, the Elric brothers agreed that the only person who could possibly come close to beating it was the Flame Alchemist himself.

The final exam came – not without its nerves – and Nia walked into the courtyard.

"We have given you some raw materials to work with – create with them whatever you see fit," were the instructions given to the few hopeful alchemists assembled there.

"So this is what they meant by 'raw materials'…" Nia mused, taking stock of her surroundings.

There was a great block of metal, which looked to Nia's eye to be steel, or a similar alloy, a similarly sized block of stone – granite, perhaps – and a mountain of ice.

The other hopeful alchemists were standing there with looks of disbelief at the materials – Nia knew they, like her, were trying to think of something suitable to transmute.

The first person stood forward – he used the stone to create an ornately carved fountain over six feet tall, and used the melt water from the ice to fill it. Your average passer by would have been impressed, but Nia watched the judges closely – after all, they were the ones who mattered, here – and they didn't react, and Nia got the impression that it was too basic.

The next person eagerly tried his luck – Nia now realised that she was the only female even sitting the tests – creating a sturdy pillar of granite, decorated with metal sculptures. Again, the judges didn't seem overly impressed.

Nia's turn. Slowly, she walked forward, using every last second to form a plan.

A touch of her hand, and the oxygen separated from the hydrogen in the water. Nia noticed the judges out of the corner of her eye – they seemed to be more impressed by this than by anything else, but why? Was it the foresight of having a circle already on her person, without wasting time drawing one? Then Nia suddenly realised – they were looking for more than just shaping the elements given, they wanted them broken down to their basic elements and something completely new and original to be created!

Nia obliged gladly. The oxygen was gathered together in a framework, as before. She didn't know if using her own flame would be classed as cheating, so she transmuted a small piece of the metal into two rough surfaces, and by rubbing them together, she got a spark, which she used to light up the oxygen.

It flared, settling down into the shape of a bird – those people unfamiliar with wildlife may have called it a phoenix from its fiery appearance, but Nia had based the shape on a peacock. The flame peacock flared its tail as if on display, and Nia used whatever minerals she could find in the metal and granite to make its tail grow flecks of colour – blues, greens and yellows.

She smiled at the judges, bowing along with her fire-peacock, before allowing it to burn up all the oxygen in one last white-hot flare, heating up the practical exam's area.

"Very impressive," the Fuhrer commended.

Roy Mustang – who was also judging – looked slightly awkward – was it possible he couldn't have done that himself? Nia dismissed that thought quickly – he was the Flame Alchemist, and surely he'd be able to do a small thing like that? More likely he was awkward that there was someone else with a talent for flames, and that she was female – that was probably it.

They watched the rest of the alchemists with a forced polite interest, and none of them seemed to realise they needed to break down the materials as Nia had done, so, by the end of the exam, Nia was fairly confident that they'd chosen her. However, she had been wrong before…

The rest of the alchemists filed away to await official communication, but Nia walked over to Roy.

"So, you're the Flame Alchemist, right?"

"Did Edward tell you about me?" he said, with just a hint of a smirk.

In a way, he had, because he'd told Jade, who'd told Nia…

"I heard that it was thanks to you that I got entered in the exam…" Nia said, avoiding the question. "So, thank you."

"There's no need to thank me. I worried about you getting such a low score in the written exam – the military pass mark is fifty-five percent, but most of those who pass are at least in the mid-seventies. But with a practical talent like that, the military would have kicked themselves if they hadn't found you."

"And I suppose you get the credit for 'finding me', don't you?"

He seemed awkwardly silent at that.

"I thought so," Nia said with a satisfied smile – she wasn't annoyed at all, and satisfied that she was right. "So, being the Flame Alchemist, I suppose you can do far better than that I just did, can't you? Actually, I'd like to see your style of alchemy in practise one day – I'm always interested in seeing different people handle fire."

The Colonel seemed lost for words.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

"Edward warned me about your seemingly natural ability with fire, but I never thought…"

"It's not _'seemingly'_ natural, Colonel. Anyway, I'd better get back – Jade, at least, will be waiting, but Ed and Al will probably be there too."

"I'll come with you," he said, surprising Nia.

"Uh…okay…"

When they got back to the assembled group of alchemists, Nia was under a barrage of questions.

"How did it go?" Edward – curiously.

"Did you pass?" Alphonse – worriedly.

"Did you know we could see your display from here?" Jade – exasperatedly.

Nia froze with shock, and just allowed the Colonel to answer the main question.

"There's no doubt about it – she's going to be a state alchemist," Roy announced. "It's not official, yet, but with a display like that, there's no way they can afford to turn her down. She'll be serving under me, as I was the one who entered her in for the exams, so I expect to see you tomorrow in East City."

"You want her to get to East City by tomorrow?" Jade asked incredulously.

"Why? How far is it?" Nia asked.

A map was drawn on the earth, and Nia didn't seem fazed by the distance.

"I guess it's not too far as the crow flies," Jade amended with a small grin at her friend.

Nia also grinned – with her wings, she could travel around three times as fast as the average crow.

"But the last train is…" Edward started with alarm.

"In five minutes time," Roy pointed out, glancing at his watch. "I suggest you run."

"No need," Nia smiled. "Fire isn't my only passion in life, let's put it that way…"

Roy looked slightly unnerved – to him, this hinted that not only was this girl an immense expert in fire alchemy after three days of study, but she was skilled in other areas, too…not that he knew what they were, but it still bothered him slightly.

"What's the matter, Colonel? Worried?" Edward taunted.

"Brother…" Al sighed – it seemed he had to deal with this often. "Sorry, Sir…"

"Stay out of it, Alphonse. And no, I'm not worried about some wet behind the ears alchemist who happens to be a dab hand with fire," Roy retorted.

"Hey!" Nia protested.

"You're his subordinate – get used to it," Jade said bluntly.

"But…"

"Welcome to life as a dog of the military. We have to take whatever crap the higher ups give us without complaining," Edward informed the brunette.

Nia shrugged. "What happens if you don't?"

"You get court-martialled," Jade answered.

"And at some point, someone would realise that you don't legally exist," Roy said, locking eyes with Nia.

"So Edward told you?"

"Actually, it was when I submitted your entry into the exam – I found there were no government records of you."

"Well, that's annoying," Nia said, before abruptly walking off.

No one was expecting that – not even Jade. She managed to get a good distance away, too, until…

"Hey, wait!"

"And here I was, hoping to avoid any questions…" Nia sighed. "Fine, what do you want to ask?"

"Why aren't you on record?" Roy asked with suspicion.

"Simply? I'm a traveller, from very far away, and this is the first time I've visited Amestris. So is Jade, although she'd been here before."

Jade gave a melancholy smile. "Nia's a traveller by blood, but me…my home world was destroyed…I have no choice but to keep moving forwards."

Edward's hand involuntarily twitched – in his head, he could see his house, burning, and the promise he'd made on that day.

"I can hardly return to my home world, either, without putting my family in danger, so…here I am," the fire-loving girl tried to smile, but failed.

"We understand how you feel," Edward said quietly. "We haven't exactly got a home to return to. After Mom died…we burnt it down, as a reminder to keep moving forwards."

"I guess we're all strong people, emotionally…" Nia murmured. "But at least Jade and I have people to offer us support, back at…well, I wouldn't call it home, exactly, but… I'm getting sidetracked – the point is: I have Kratos, and Jade has Vincent, but who do you have?"

"We have each other…and Winry…" Al trailed off, looking at his brother.

"And as much as I hate to say it, we have the Colonel, too…" he grumbled.

"What was that, pipsqueak?" Roy asked, almost disbelieving.

"I am not a pipsqueak!" he automatically yelled.

Al looked happy about something – it was difficult to tell what, though.

"Hey, Jade?" Nia whispered.

"Yes?"

"Notice that if anyone else called him short or anything, they'd be lucky to live to tell the tale, but the Colonel…"

Jade's eyes went wide and disbelieving. "What? No! Do you really think…"

"I'm not completely sure…but it _does_ looks like it…maybe we should just keep our eyes open."

"What are you two smirking about?" Ed almost shouted, still angry at the pipsqueak remark.

"Nothing," the two girls said in unison, with a grin plastered firmly on their faces.

Roy Mustang walked off wordlessly.

"Where is that bastard going?" Ed asked.

"The Colonel needs to get to East City by tomorrow, too, brother," Al reasoned. "And we should get to our hotel room – it's getting late."

"And we'd better get going, too," Jade said to Nia, making a pair of jet-black wings tipped with silver appear from her upper back.

Nia nodded, a mottled grey pair of wings appearing from her own back.

"I told you we had wings, didn't I?" Nia told Edward with a smirk, before flapping into what was now a dark, cool night.

The two Elric brothers were stunned.

"…They…really _do _have wings…" Edward said disbelievingly.

"Don't start a religion after me!" Jade shouted back worriedly.

"Why would we do that?" Al asked.

"You'd be surprised…"

The two girls swiftly flew into the night, heading east.

* * *

Thanks to those who reviewed last time (by the way, awesome name, Schizophrennic Muffin!)

And thanks for reading – please leave me a review!


	5. Paperwork

The authoress does not own Fullmetal Alchemist…or Final Fantasy…or Torchwood.

* * *

A few days later, Nia had started to settle down at being a dog of the military – even making friends with a real dog of the military – Black Hayate. She was tickling the peaceable mutt behind the ears while waiting for some orders when Roy came in.

She saluted – albeit reluctantly – and waited.

"Your name has arrived," he announced, handing Nia her pocket watch and an envelope.

She carefully slit open the envelope and read.

"We give the name "Elemental" to thy Nia Jones in the name of Fuhrer King Bradley…"

Nia blinked. "The Elemental Alchemist?"

"That's right. And for your first assignment, Elemental, I need you to research the life of the Dark Matter Alchemist."

Nia had lots of questions in her head, but all she could manage to get out was a questioning, "Sir?"

"I'm sure the Elrics have told you that they are on a quest to find the Philosopher's stone. They tend to rely on me for leads," Roy smirked, as if having Edward rely on him was a good thing. This smirk only fuelled Nia's tentative suspicions, yet she kept them hidden away while she listened.

"I've heard that the Dark Matter Alchemist was very famous around two hundred years ago, for being one of the only female state alchemists. It's also a well known fact that she had nothing to do with the Philosopher's stone."

The way the Colonel was speaking sounded like he didn't know Jade was the Dark Matter Alchemist. Maybe he didn't – after all, he knows she was alive around two hundred years ago, and he wouldn't expect her to still be alive now…

"Excuse me for asking, Sir, but if she had nothing to do with the Philosopher's stone, why is it important to research her?"

"I believe it was a front – no one gets that famous without at least a few links to the stone."

Nia frowned, but kept the uncertainty out of her voice. "Understood, Sir."

So, the only evidence he had that Jade had searched for the Philosopher's Stone was the fact that there was no evidence?

"You'll have clearance for the military files for the next week, and there should be written reports and journals in the library. I want a full detailed summary by next week."

"Yes, Sir."

Nia saluted again, turned on her heel and went out the door. Jade was waiting there.

"So?"

"So what?" Nia asked, completely at a loss for what she was supposed to be answering.

"What's your name? I've been waiting out here for ages – I saw the envelope."

Nia gave a small smile. "You are _never_ going to let me live this down…it's 'Elemental'."

"Really? Wow, I thought it'd be something like…'Dragon'… Too bad that 'Flame' is already taken."

"Anyway my first assignment…is to see whether or not _you _had anything to do with the Philosopher's stone."

"Me? You're joking, right? Jeez, they're leaving it a bit late to do check ups on me – I've been gone for two hundred years."

Nia shrugged. "Can you make this easier? Did you have anything to do with it? The stone, I mean."

"What would I have done with the Philosopher's stone? I already have the closest thing to eternal life, and I don't need an alchemic catalyst; it'd be worthless outside of this world…"

"Right, well go and tell that to Mustang – he's under the impression that you're dead, by the way."

Jade sighed. "If it's not being called evil is being called dead…it's just one thing after another… Anyway, Nia, one thing with being in the military is that you have to do stupid things that don't make sense, but the sooner you finish them, the sooner you can get on with more important things."

Nia sighed and made her way to the library, heaving a stack of books and a pad of paper to a vacant desk and began.

After an hour of looking through records and scribbling notes, she wasn't even through one month of Jade's recorded Amestris life. She resolved to throttle her friend, her commanding officer…possibly even Edward himself for having such a ridiculous pursuit.

"So, how are you doing?" Jade asked over her shoulder.

"How the hell did you pack so much into one month of your life?"

She shrugged, reading over Nia's notes. "Did I really stay here for two years before taking the alchemy exam?"

"You did," Nia confirmed. "And even then, you only got seventy per cent in the written exam."

"Hey, at that time, I didn't have any memories of any other worlds, unlike you. Besides, I wasn't pulling off all nighters, and I didn't have the haste materia…"

"All right!" Nia sighed. "Enough excuses… I still have to get this work done. So far, you've been assigned a commanding officer…"

"The biggest idiot I've ever met in any world…"

"Managed to destroy a warehouse 'in the pursuit of a wanted criminal'…"

"Oh, yeah…I really got chewed up for that one – he was only a petty thief, and I kinda overdid things a little…"

"A little? A structurally sound warehouse full of expensive wooden furniture – I believe that some of it was gilded with gold leaf – went up in a blaze of fire and smoke from its Northern edge, and was completely crushed from the South side. You caused a small fortune's worth of destruction in collateral damage!"

"Hey, I'm sure you've done things you regret, too!" she retorted defensively.

Nia sighed, turning back to her notes.

"Then, you borrowed a ton of books – all of which I've had to read through myself to make sure they don't contain any mention of the Philosopher's stone. And then you got promoted…"

"For catching that mass murderer, wasn't it?" she said offhandedly.

"Yes…Ashley Williams, who specialised in drowning people, then moved the bodies to the highest landmasses in the area," Nia read.

"And surprisingly, I managed to pull that one off without upsetting a single stone…ironic, really."

Nia leafed through her sheets. "Hey, you're right – no collateral damage whatsoever!"

"No need to sound quite so surprised!" Jade protested.

"Look, if you aren't going to help me with this, can you at least leave me to get this done?"

To Nia's surprise, her friend sat down and helped herself to a book. This was really no more productive as before, because Jade would always start laughing uncontrollably and recount a story from two hundred years ago, which, despite Nia's resolve to get this job done, soon had her laughing too. It was soon painfully apparent that they were _not _going to get this done by the end of the week.

The last twenty-four hours saw Nia not leaving the records for a single second, her hand and eyes a blur, thanks to the haste materia. When it came to handing in the report (a three inch tall stack of papers), Nia was too physically exhausted to feel nervous.

"Here you are – there is no mention whatsoever of the Philosopher's stone in any of the formal reports, research materials or log books."

The Colonel grabbed the thick stack of papers, placed them on a metal tray and clicked his fingers, making the stack of papers burst into flames rapidly. Nia seized the papers from the tray, instantly absorbing the flames. The papers were only slightly scorched around the edges, although a few seconds later would have seen irreparable damage to the documents.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Nia snapped, not being able to take this blatant ignorance of her work. "I spent a whole week writing that stupid report!"

Roy didn't even open his eyes as he replied. "I have no need of it, unless you haven't done your job correctly. You _did _say there was no mention of the Philosopher's Stone, right?"

"But…but…"

"Elemental, you are dismissed until further notice."

Nia turned on her heel and strode out the door, almost slamming it in the process, but decided against it – she didn't want to be responsible for the door coming of it's hinges, which seemed very likely in her mood. Even Black Hayate whined at her, sensitive to her temper.

"It's not your fault," she assured the dog. "Although, if you get a chance to make his life hell, please take it…"

"I would thank you to not teach my dog to make our lives more difficult," a commanding voice said.

Nia whipped her head around to find she was under the intense scrutiny of Riza Hawkeye.

"Uh, Lieutenant Hawkeye…"

"Relax. Contrary to my reputation, I will not whip out my gun if someone sneezes."

"Oh…uh…right…uh…sorry!"

Riza sighed. "So, why are you in a temper with the Colonel?"

"Uh…it's silly, really, I just spent a week with no breaks researching and compiling a report for him," Nia brandished the scorched papers, "and he didn't bother to read it – he just listened to my summary and tried to burn the report…"

"Roy doesn't do paperwork unless threatened or unless there are ten minutes to the deadline. Don't expect him to do anything above and beyond his normal amount of paper work."

Nia smiled slightly – Roy sounded like a child leaving his homework to the last minute! "Thanks, I'll remember that."

Riza walked off to get some work done, and Nia wondered what to do next. She decided to go for a wander – she hadn't been out of that library for the past week, and her legs felt cramped.

* * *

I've found a cool song by Gackt – Soul of Fire. It's my theme song! And I'm currently listening to a lot of Malice Mizer...

Anyway, review, please!


	6. Yaoi?

Sorry for being dead for...ages... (bows apologetically) I actually wrote this chapter _before _I disappeared, so I don't know why I didn't upload it...sorry, again. To make it up, the next chapter will be up quicker, honest!

Oh, and there's some mild Ed/Roy if you squint. Very hard.

The authoress does not own Fullmetal Alchemist…or Final Fantasy…or Torchwood.

* * *

In East City, a certain silver-haired girl walked around in a slightly moth bitten military uniform that didn't look like it had seen the light of day in over two hundred years. It was amazing how similar it was to the current uniform – only military personnel would be able to tell the difference.

However, Jade was completely bored – at least in Central, there are places to go and people to annoy, but in East City there was nothing!

Suddenly, by accident or by fate's design (if one wanted to believe in such a thing), Nia crossed her line of vision, so she shouted a greeting before catching up with her.

"You finished the report alright, didn't you?" she asked.

"Yeah, not that it matters. A verbal report would have been enough – he almost burnt my sheets! I've half a mind to tell him you're the Dark Matter Alchemist just for the shock of it all…"

Then, Nia did a double take of her friend. "Talking of shocks, are you wearing the military uniform?" she asked disbelievingly.

"You are, too, I see."

"Yeah, well, I was handing in a report – what else would I wear?"

"Apparently Edward just wears what he wants and defies anyone who tries to get him to wear the uniform."

"…I can't see anyone that's going to _force _him to wear it, somehow… Can you see anyone with a death wish?" Somehow, Nia had an amusing mental image of a random person trying to dress Edward as though he was a toddler, with him stubbornly refusing. She shook off the image, marvelling at her rampant imagination.

Jade laughed. "Do you know when Edward and Alphonse are coming here? Because it's so boring at the moment – with you actually taking your military duties seriously, I have nothing to do!"

"I don't know. I bet Roy would…but I'm not asking him for anything."

"Jeez, he only tried to burn your report…"

"Which I spent all week on and he didn't even look at it!" Nia hissed.

"Okay, okay, _I'll_ ask him."

So, the two girls went into East City headquarters, Jade dragging her friend into Roy's office.

"Colonel Mustang?" Jade asked.

It was one of those rare times when Roy was actually doing his paperwork – if by doing, you meant frantically scribbling a signature on sheets of paper at a rapid pace. Nia guessed he had possibly three, maybe four minutes until his deadline, judging by the rate of signing and muttering. Like all the office staff, she'd been drawn into the betting ring, and one of the best topics to bet on in the office at the moment was how long he'd leave it until Roy got round to doing the paperwork. By paying close attention, all of them could tell how long it was until the deadline without need for a clock – they just watched Roy.

"Give him five minutes," Nia advised, backing out of the door.

They waited the five minutes until the work was completed, and the tall stack of papers had been carried out of the room, then stepped back inside.

"Colonel Mustang?" Jade asked again.

Roy looked like he really needed to click his fingers and burn _something _right now. However, he realised that he had female company in the office, and quickly composed himself. Suddenly, the seemingly natural grace had returned, and he smiled at Jade as if it was the highest thing on his list of priorities right now. Nia glared at him – all was _not _forgiven as far as burning her paperwork was concerned.

"Is there anything I can do for you, ladies?" he practically purred.

Nia bit back the retort of 'learning to swallow your ego would be nice…' and let her friend ask the question.

Strangely, though, her friend said little, her mouth hanging slightly agape.

"Jade?"

Jade turned to Nia, her tone extremely hushed – so much that most humans wouldn't be able to hear it.

"I thought you said…him and Edward?.."

"Yes, why?"

"He's _flirting_."

"Haven't you heard of overcompensation? It would be the perfect way to hide how he felt, if he did…you know…_like _Ed…"

Jade decided to become irreversibly ignorant of this fact. "Shut up, you. Just because _you_ don't like him…wait – he thinks I'm dead, right? Is it necrophilia if I'm still conscious?"

Nia's eyes went wide and she almost choked on her mute shouted reply. "Jade!"

"What?"

Nia gritted her teeth. "Vincent. He's waiting for you when we get back. He loves you. And I am _not_ about to tell him that you…"

"Well, don't tell him then."

Nia gaze narrowed into a fine, hair-splittingly sharp gaze. "He would only use you once and sod off, anyway – if that!"

Roy drummed his fingers on the desk, leaning back in his chair in an incredibly relaxed manner. Calmly, he commented, "As a Colonel, one of the most useful office skills I've developed is being able to read lips."

Nia and Jade exchanged an 'oh, crap' look and Jade at least had the decency to blush.

"Uh…"

"Lieutenant Hawkeye is not the only one to have an exaggerated reputation, I see," Roy mused. "I believe you had a reason for coming here other than insulting me?"

"We wanted to know when Edward and Alphonse would be back, and we thought that you'd know…"

"They will arrive here tomorrow, at noon. Is that all?"

Nia gathered her reckless courage for the sake of her curiosity. "And you and Edward?.."

She knew, almost as soon as she'd asked the question that she was unlikely to get anywhere near an honest reply.

"Nothing has ever happened between us."

For some reason, Nia grinned as she and Jade exited the office.

"He never said he wouldn't regret anything happening in the future," she muttered to herself.

"That's a bit of a stretch, though…"

"Not really, because if he really had no feelings for Ed, he'd be more insistent, wouldn't he? He'd have probably said no straight away, but instead, he gives a vague answer which would sound like a negative one to anyone listening in…Also, did you hear the regret in his voice when he said that?"

"I think you're imagining things…" Jade said bluntly, mainly because she didn't want to believe it to be true.

Nia stayed quiet, not bothering to argue, but seemed deeply absorbed in her thoughts.

Jade had a vague feeling an idea was forming in her friend's head, and sincerely hoped she was wrong.

* * *

Nia's obsessed! Actually, this is the first time I've really shown the 'yaoi fangirl' in her before…well, second, but the first time was very vague.

Anyway, if there's anyone out there, please review!


	7. The Plan

I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist…or anything apart from Nia, really. This includes not owning Final Fantasy VII. Don't sue me, I'm broke!

* * *

When the Elrics arrived the following day, Nia already had a plan in mind. Both her and Jade were waiting at the station for them when the train came in. Nia was momentarily distracted by the train itself – she always had liked old styled trains, and only had a few chances to ride in them. Jade, however, scoffed, muttering something about them not replacing the train in the past two hundred years.

Then, the Elric brothers drew into sight.

"Hi! Over here!" Nia waved, making sure they saw. So did the whole station, but that was besides the point.

"What are you doing here?"

"Mustang wanted someone to be at the station to make sure you were alright," Nia explained.

"Really? Or was he just making sure I get my report in on time?" Edward asked suspiciously.

"Well, we won't drag you to his office, if that's what you're worried about," Nia smiled.

Edward sighed. "May as well get it over with," he muttered, striding in the general direction of east city headquarters.

The girls and Alphonse followed, not quite sure what to say to the blond when he was in this mood.

Instead, Alphonse talked to the girls. "So, what's happened while big brother and I were away?"

Jade shrugged. "Not much – it's been quite boring. The highlight of the fortnight was when Roy tried to burn Nia's paperwork. She hasn't quite got over it, yet."

"And Jade has a crush on the Colonel," Nia muttered darkly, "which will not end well."

Jade rolled her eyes. "Aren't I allowed to play the field a bit?"

"Not when you have such a sweet guy like Vincent who loves you. He already had to lose you once, don't do it to him again, Lucrecia," Nia insisted.

"Huh? I thought your name was Jade," Alphonse wondered.

"She goes by many names. Some call her Jade. Some call her Cruxis. Some call her Lucrecia. And some call her smelly," Nia explained with a smirk.

"Hey!"

"It's true, Magic sometimes calls you smelly…or mush…but she does that to everyone…"

Alphonse sounded puzzled. "You have some weird friends…"

"Well, at our first meeting, we were trying to kill each other…but we're alright now!" Nia laughed.

"Anyway," Jade interrupted. "My full name is Jade Lucrecia Cruxis Silverwind-Valentine."

"Wow, that's a mouthful…" Alphonse muttered.

"Yep, all thirteen syllables of it. Jade used to be a ruler in her home world," Nia explained.

"What happened?"

"Some idiot told a hero what exactly would happen to his love. He tried to prevent it from happening, which prevented some other, pretty important things from happening. Destiny collapsed on itself and destroyed that world," Jade spat bitterly.

"Stephen Atkinson…" Nia said slowly. "It was an honest mistake."

"So was his death."

Alphonse shivered, as best a suit of armour can shiver. These girls could have a real dark side, and suddenly, he realised he did not want to know their past.

"We're here," Edward announced.

They let him give his report on his own, although Jade and Nia were listening carefully from the next room. While it all sounded innocent enough, they both agreed that there was something in their voices that betrayed something deeper.

"So, are you going to give up on this crush?" Nia asked.

"I suppose…" Jade muttered. "Although…"

Nia had seen that smirk before, and now she was intrigued.

"What?"

"I wonder if the walls and floors are still alchemy-proof as standard?" Jade said slowly, the beginnings of an idea - the very same idea as Nia - forming in her mind.

Soon, the ends of the idea formed in both their minds, and they went tearing down the corridor to find the key to their plan working. Ironically enough, the key was an actually key – a key for a door, to be more specific. A key for Mustang's office door, if one wanted to be painfully exact.

It took two turns of the key in the lock to complete this plan. And then, a little while of waiting…

It actually took Edward one minute and forty-three seconds to realise that he was looked in a room with Mustang, by Nia's count. In this time, they had managed to: start out a would be civil conversation; reduce that conversation to bickering and witty come backs; show a complete disregard for normal military protocol concerning courtesy and higher ranking officers; and sneak in several well-disguised short remarks, the last of which would have sent Edward storming out the room…if he could have opened the door, that was.

The girls snuck away, silently giggling. No matter what happened, they knew they did not want to be found by Roy and Edward when they got out…

* * *

Maybe a little shorter than normal…but it's written! That has to count for something, right? Believe it or not, this fanfic is drawing slowly to a close…I have maybe four short-ish chapters planned? Anyway, feedback on the Ed/Royness (do you want it definite, just hinting or not at all? Although that last one might not be an option…nope, it's not an option, sorry! No matter what I do, there will always be hints…)


	8. World Travellers

…Edward actually being a teenager in the early parts of this chapter…well, I think of it as a marmite experience – you're either going to love it or hate it, but I think it'll be leaning towards the later. Hell, I'm not fond of it, myself…

Insert something about owning nothing that's copyrighted…yet…

* * *

Eventually, Roy and Edward did get out of the office, although how, Nia and Jade never quite found out. They had expected Edward to be more…annoyed, somehow, but he seemed to be talking this far calmer than the Colonel was. Actually, the girls thought, a little too calm, and dragged him away to interrogate.

"I thought you'd be shouting down the roof at us, Ed," Nia said gently, not sure how to handle him at the moment.

Edward made a non-committal shrug in reply.

The girls exchanged a look. "What the hell happened in there?"

"Nothing…" he muttered.

"Well, something must have happened to get you like this," Nia reasoned.

"Nothing happened," he repeated firmly, storming off.

Nia, being the glutton for punishment and the emotional advisor that she was, followed, keeping pace with him easily.

"Look, you keep it to yourself if you want. But this isn't going to help you if you keep your feelings bottled up inside."

"What are you? A self help book?" He muttered cynically. Nia just let the moment pass in silence, and Edward sighed. "Look, I said nothing happened because nothing _did _happen. _That's_ why I'm being like this."

Somehow, the girls understood instantly.

And then Edward stomped off.

Jade whispered her misgivings. "Nia, do you think we might have messed up?"

Nia slowly nodded. "We royally screwed up. Now Edward's miserable and has been forced to confront his feelings, and Roy…"

"Either doesn't know or doesn't care."

Nia grit her teeth. "What can we do? There must be something we can do to help…"

Jade raised her eyebrows. "And make it worse?"

"Well," Nia struggled, trying to think. "I don't know, but we can't just do nothing!"

"It wasn't our place to meddle in the first place. Even if they are too stubborn to have realised anything without our help."

Nia fell silent, contemplating something. "So, Jade?" she asked eventually. "Do you think this is my biggest mistake to date?"

"What was your old biggest mistake?"

"Uh…probably that question in Chemistry – the one where I said the simplest way to fight any fire is to absorb it's energy."

"Nia. This is definitely bigger. And less funny – this time you haven't got your teacher writing a miniature essay complete with doodles in the margin explaining exactly why that is impossible."

"Good point – I had to laugh at being called an impossibility of science, though. What was your biggest screw up again?"

"Mithos, Hojo, Agorned…take your pick."

"Your biggest screw up which didn't involve someone dying?"

"Hmm…probably leaving those books lying around."

"Which books?" asked Nia, puzzled.

"The ones you and Stephen found, remember? And I never did get those back…"

"How often _are_ you going to use _'F__inding Out Enemy Secrets and Summoning their Hunters'_?"

"Hey, don't knock it – it was really useful back in the day!"

Nia sighed. "'Back in the day' involved people trying to kill you, as I remember…"

"That's _why _it was useful…" Jade explained.

"Anyway, are we going to do anything?"

And Jade, in a rare spurt of wisdom said, "In time, everything will sort itself out."

And oddly enough, she was right. Alphonse talked to Edward and wheedled the story out of him, before giving him enough courage to actually talk to Mustang. Roy dared not say too much in the military building, where any confessions could be overheard, but it turned out the feeling was mutual (and he was kicking himself for _Edward _being the one to come forward).

Despite this, Roy still hadn't quite forgiven the girls for locking them up for the afternoon. When Nia found the ashes of her report, even she had to admit – grudgingly – that she'd deserved it. She just wondered how the Colonel had found it…

A few weeks later, it was a sunny afternoon, and Nia was forced to have a good think about her current situation. Of course, Jade was there, throwing in suggestions, and Edward and Alphonse were there, to try and make some sense of her ramblings.

"It's nice here," Nia had to admit. "The people are mostly friendly and there's enough uninhabited land to explore to stop me from becoming bored. But it reminds me a lot of my world, just slightly more old-fashioned. I'd get homesick."

Jade nodded sagely. "I've tried living here before – eventually, fate drags you into all sorts of mess that you don't want. I've narrowly escaped becoming a crude chimera, being killed on numerous occasions and being transmuted into a Philosopher's stone. If you want a quiet life, this isn't it."

"And I can't settle down in Reality, for obvious reasons…"

"It's getting worse and worse every day, in any case. I wouldn't be surprised if, in a few years, the atmosphere isn't breathable."

"Symphonia's out of the question," Nia muttered.

"Why? Kratos is there, and your step-son…what's wrong with it?"

"After all the events with the other Agornedians, and you being evil…I'm just sick of it. I know it too well, anyway – I'd get bored."

"So, not here, not in Reality and not in Symphonia. Well, I'd say something about being picky, but it's not as if you don't have lots of worlds to choose from," Jade said.

"What I need is somewhere…friendly. I'd need to live outside of a village or town, though, because explaining wings and fire to every Tom, Dick and Harry is a nuisance and also quite dangerous."

Here, Alphonse stepped in. "Why is it dangerous? You told us about your powers."

Nia smiled faintly. "People tend to fear what they see as different – you must have seen that when you've been travelling. Maybe not as much in this world as in some others, but the fear of the unknown is in every world. So, advertising myself as different will not give me a peaceful life."

"But you still told us," Edward pointed out.

"Ed, not to be rude, but half your limbs are made of metal, and your brother technically doesn't have a body. We had a feeling that you two are different, too," Jade said.

Nia cleared her throat. "So, back to my homelessness issue…the world also has to be interesting enough to capture my interest. And it needs to be an 'open' world – a world whose storyline can change without imploding on itself…you know, just in case."

Jade sighed. "I don't think you've left yourself many options, then."

"I think I should just go around some worlds and check out my options," Nia shrugged.

"You mean, you're leaving?" Alphonse asked.

"There's no time like the present."

"You're leaving now?" Ed almost shouted.

Nia nodded. "Well, I am, at least. I'm not good with goodbyes, so I try and keep them short. And possibly non-existent. Tell Roy I've gone to another world – see how he takes that…oh, also tell him that the Dark Matter Alchemist is still alive, and she's Jade. And get a photograph of his face – this is one of those moments you _will_ need the camera for."

"But, you can't leave now…"

"Why not?" Jade shrugged. "We will meet again, I can promise you that. Until then, though, goodbye."

The girls just disappeared, leaving behind the slightly confused Elric brothers.

"Brother? Do you think we _will_ see them again?"

Edward shrugged. "Who knows? Come on, Al, let's go."

* * *

Who wants an omake? Because I have the perfect plot for another chapter – an 'extra' chapter…

Anyway, if you liked it, review. If you hated it, review. If you were indifferent, review. If you are green slime on the face of Mars, who has just intercepted this chapter, review. If you have a face, review. Have I made my point, yet?


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